Instead of lying here in bed at dawn compulsively composing then deleting mind-emails to personal heroes that will strike the exact right tone of non-cloying self-effacement and non-obsequious flattery that will move them to consider blurbing (awful word) my book, I thought I would write about my dinner, and some other things I consumed yesterday.

My little brother who lives in Asheville stayed with me all last week. Asheville is only 690 miles away from New York City but it’s not just physical distance that comes between me and my brother; having him around reminded me constantly that I spend so much of my time caring about and knowing about [...]

Almost every day I get to look out the window at the water and the sky and the advancing skyline from the window of the Q or B train as it crosses the Manhattan bridge. I have heard more than one person say that “The moment I stop noticing this view is the moment I [...]